Best Cd player for under 500

Cambridge Audio D500-SE - List is $450 and can be had for $389 with free shipping at NorthamptonAudio.com
AKA Spearitsound.com in either black or silver.

The Cambridge Audio D500SE has a dual differential 24bit/192kHz DAC (Yes, 192kHz is not a typo) and a high-end Sony transport.

I vote for the Cambridge as well. I have not heard the D500-se, but I used to own the D500, and in my opinion it is one of the best buys in audio.

Good luck!

I bought the D500 for a friend. Was very impressed relative to an Anthem cd-1 (list $1800). Look at www.audioreviews.com for more reviews.

Correction: www.audiomarketplace.com

Find a top of the line old Sony. I purchased the D500se for a bedroom system and while it sounds ok especially driving sennheiser phones on the ASL headphone amp it doesn't have the refinement of a top player played on big full range system. However it is improving with more hours. Approximate hours are approaching 100.

You cannot go wrong with a modified player by Stan Warren. I have been in the digital upgrade game since 1983 (7 different cd players, and 3 different D/A's). After I found out about Stan, every digital unit that he modified outperformed anything 300% and more in price. This is what Stan is infamous for, i.e. performing modifications to particular modestly priced cd players and DAC's, which in the end will produce world class sound. (Many of his units have actually crushed other ultra expensive units, in a/b comparisons). Either Stan is a genius, or the rest of us are getting ripped off by the "so called" high end digital companies, that charge so much money for this "state of the art" digital stuff. There is a question that begs to be asked: Why isn't there a production cd player that can compete sonically at the same price point, as compared to what Stan Warren is offering? Is it really that hard to do...or...are we all suckers, for thinking that we have to spend tons of money to get world class sounding digital?